SATURDAY

ARGH I had a long post ready to go and blogger ATE it!!!!

**** I ATE 10 SERVINGS OF PRODUCE TODAY!!!!**** I'm quite sure I won't be able to do that daily. ::snort:: If I keep this up I'm sure to LOOK like say a Cantaloupe or Melon.

~Stacia woke up early. I put on Waltons and cuddled with her...before the show was over Nolan and Zander had climbed into bed too.

~The youngers watched Brady Bunch...in other words we got a late start. All but Josiah who had to go to work.

~I was in the shower when Mandy dropped by. LOL The younger boys love playing with her boys...and we had a nice visit as well.

~I worked on taxes. I made a shocking realization today. For the first time EVER our child deductions did not off-set Mike's income. He had taxable income this year! AND we no longer qualify for the EIC. We've worked ourselves into a new tax bracket. We'll get everything we paid in taxes back...but we are used to getting at least 5K in a "refund". Ah well.

~I did some more trailer shopping. Delvin said that the owner gave him a hard time for giving me a hard time yesterday. It seems the owner has the trailer we have and says it pulls well and my van won't have trouble at all. BUT we'll see. They said that I'd have trouble pulling it up Pike's Peak but they don't think I'll be doing that often and said any trailer would lug for that. ::snort:: Mike found another model he's looking at too. The 31' model is top of the line with all the amenities. The 28' one is a "great little trailer but no amenities" and it's only $2k LESS but 2K pounds less too. BTW, do any of you know the what dry camping is and how it compares with wet camping? My mind scrabbled back through our 20+ years of camping and I came up with some clues about wet camping but I was quite sure that they weren't right given the context of the discussion. Debbie, have you and Brian used that terminology? Mike? He's checking our credit number et al. I'm checking with the courthouse. I want to register and license it in AK...he isn't sure I can. We did this with the van when we bought it ....so either we should be able to or I should keep quiet because we shouldn't have been able to do it with the van either. ::snort:: The owner and now Delvin are sure that 1200 lbs is about what the average family hauls....and that we won't need all our camping gear (outside stove, sink, tent etc) any longer. We'll just need clothes, shoes, pots/pans, and food. I have no clue. Debbie, have you and Brian ever figured out how much weight you put into your trailer to go camping? I'm guessing a 5th wheel would be different or I'd ask Cindy - well Cindy - do you know how much weight you all take with you? Our van is rated for 8400 lbs. The trailer is 7200 empty.

~Went to the library to return books and look for the book Laura recommend. They don't have it.

~Looked around netflix and put the documentary Debbie recommend in my queue. Has anyone watched "The Long Road Home"? It's a documentary on the holocaust and the journey for the Jewish survivors to have a homeland in Israel. I know it would be too intense for the younger set from the preview. I'm wondering if it would be o.k. for the high school boys...possibly the 7th grader.

~Dinner - spanakopita and salad for Jamin and I. Tortellini and sauce for Jared. The youngers had oven baked fries, carrot sticks and such. Stacia ate it all.

Time to take care of showers, reading and bed time...Sunday School starts early.

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach pastry)

~Moosewood Cookbook (one of my favorites)

8 servings/ 375*

2 C crumbled feta cheese
5 eggs
2 T flour
3 T butter
1 C chopped onion
1 tsp basil
salt, pepper
2 C (1 lb) cottage or pot cheese
1/2 tsp oregano
2 lbs fresh spinach

1 lb defrosted filo dough
1/2 lb melted butter

Clean, stem and chop the spinach. Salt it lightly, and cook, adding no water, for 5 minutes.

Cook the onions in butter, salting lightly. When soft, combine with remaining ingredients and spinach.

To Assemble: Spread melted butter on a 9 x 13 baking pan. Place filo leaf in the pan - it will outsize the pan. Let the edges climb the sides) and brush generously with butter. Keep layers of dough coming, one on top of another, brushing each with butter. When you have a pile of 8 leaves, spread on half the filling. Continue with another stack of 8 or so leaves (don't skimp on the butter), then apply the remaining filling, spreading it to the edges. Fold the excess filo down along the edges, making little tidy corners (mine never are - I just stuff em).

Pile as many more layers of filo and butter as your baking pan will accommodate. Butter the top-most leaf and sprinkle with a Tablespoon of whole FENNEL seeds (this makes it great) if you have some on hand.

Bake uncovered, about 45 minutes - till golden.

This one is really pretty - I'll try to remember to make it again when the camera is working and add a photo. LOL

Better than Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing - from Heather

adapted from Top Secret Recipes

1/2 C mayonnaise or Vegennaise (I use the Vegannaise)

1/2 C buttermilk, plain yogurt or sour cream (I've been using vanilla yogurt but have some plain on the way LOL)

1/2 tsp of sea salt, parsley, dill weed, red wine or apple cider vinegar, lemon juice

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper (I've just used pepper)

1 clove minced garlic (I've used 1 tsp dried)

1 T finely minced yellow onion (I've used dried - I grind this and the garlic in my coffee grinder because my younger ones wouldn't like chunks LOL)

~Even though I've taken short cuts and not had the correct yogurt to use, this is a hit. I double it and make it about every other day. LOL Double recipe will fit in one of those Tupperware salad dressing mixer things.... I thought some of you might enjoy this.

*Freedom: The Story of My Second Life* by Malika Oufkir

I found this book to be an easier read than Stolen Lives...quicker. However, I think Stolen Lives is great background to this book.

Freedom, chronicles Malika's attempts to adjust to freedom after living most her life without freedom, first in the palace and then 20 years imprisoned in the deserts of Morocco. I think this book would be a good read if you think you may have begun to take freedom for granted.

I found that many of her observations about the new things she found when she reentered the world, such as automatic faucets and supermarkets, paralleled my culture shock when moving from the Philippines to America. ::snort::

I could have done without the chapter on "love", which would be better titled "lust" or something....but all in all this was a good book.

Great School Books....

Before switching to Tapestry of Grace, we had used a literature based curriculum. We LOVE great, living books. We have shelves of living historical fiction. Tapestry uses lots of great books...but most of them are not fictionalized accounts. I missed the reading from our other curriculum, and added a few of our favorites in here and there.

Slowly I've come to realize that we DO have lots of GREAT books with Tapestry of Grace....most of them, however, are biographies or non-fiction....still living books...
I often hear others say TOG is not for young children...and I understand the thought. However, one of the strengths that I've come to cherish in TOG is the really GOOD picture books that they recommend for young children. This week we read two that illustrate my point.

"The Butterfly" by Patricia Polacco, is a true story set during WW2 in France. It follows the adventures of a young girl who discovers her mother is part of the resistance and hiding a Jewish family in her basement. In this book we follow the escape attempt of the Sevrine and her family and are even told about the life-long friendship that Monique and Sevrine enjoyed.

Another great non-fiction Children's book is "Passage to Freedom:The Sugihara Story", by Ken Mochizuki. This story is told from the perspective of 5 year old Hirokio Sugihara. Hirokio tells the story of how his father saved the lives of 10,000 Jews while he was serving as a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania in 1940. It's an amazing story. Night after night his father sat hand-writing visas for people who were trying to escape the Nazis - against the express orders of his own government. I would like to read more on this incident.

Anyway, I've been amazed at the wonderful, accurate, engaging PICTURE books Marcia has found for the younger children. Both of these books were in my local library. Of course, I want to BUY them both now. ::snort::

I CONFESS

In my search for sleep at a "decent hour", I've taken to watching The Waltons. What a GREAT show! Though I could swear I remember that they had a large family? What happened? It shrunk. ::snort::

I'm really enjoying watching these episodes. I'm thinking I may need to buy a season or two to balance off the boys' Hogan Heroes craze.

FRIDAY

~Disclaimer...I found the ticker last night doing a google search and I have no CLUE what Phen Forum is...so don't take it as an endorsement. LOL

~Today could be summed up concisely (though you know I won't LOL): Speech and Produce Co-op in the am, and Trailer shopping in the pm. There, that's the reader's digest version.

~For those who like to read.....Mike has been spending his dreaming time over yonder making plans to buy a road whale. He asked me to go gather some information and they've been closed when I went by. I decided to gather his info today. Have you ever dealt with car type salesman or mechanics as a female? Some of them can be a bit condescending. I went in. I told them the exact trailer I wanted. They asked what I drove. I told them. They laughed. I told them that I was sure it could haul a trailer. They continued to laugh. One even said, "Little lady, why don't you let us show you a smaller trailer?" LITTLE LADY????

OK...so I was tired, cold and missing Mike by this point....and I answered "Oh - will 9 children, 2 adults and a dog fit in the smaller one?" ::snort::

They showed me another one with bunks that was lighter. I asked them if there was a way we could check these numbers before I decided on the one they showed me because we REALLY want the other one. Deep sighs, smirks and such from men. I felt like saying "Don't mess with me! NEVER mess with a deployed spouse, buddy! I fixed a SINK yesterday!!!" But I smiled. In fact I was charming. I knew what was coming. ::snort:: One man went out to check the van because they were SURE "the little lady" was a tad bit confused (chuckle, smirk) and didn't have a v-10 engine in her van. I KEPT telling the salesman - we bought the biggest we could with an eye to hauling a trailer. He got out his Ford book. "Is it an Arrowstar?"

" NO - it's an EXTENDED 350...it's not a mini-van."

"Hmm...Expedition?"

"No, you'll find it under the trucks."

The other man came in....it's an E-350 XLT, Super - Extended.....

"Maam, is your van a 7 or 8 passenger van?" (I had told them this earlier ::snort::).

"It's a 15 passenger van."

" Maam, that has a v-10 engine, that will haul trailer!"

" Um...yeah!"::sigh::

They talked numbers with me. They talked extra features with me. I told them I'd want to leave it on the lot until Mike was home to DRIVE it somewhere. They told me they'd deliver it to my home....why would I need a boat like that in my yard???? Well it COULD be useful when the girls are home, come to think of it..... They told me they could defer payments until Mike is home. The man asked for my credit number. I have no clue and will need to figure that one out. The salesman then said he wouldn't feel right selling me anything (not that I was buying today anyway) until FORD told me how much the van can pull because um....well you know...Mike's gone and he didn't want me to buy the wrong thing. Fair enough. I got out the manual and asked him if these weren't the numbers he needed. He wanted me to go to FORD. I did. They sent me to another office. That man said they don't give computer printouts....and said, "Don't you have a manual?"

BUT he looked at numbers and vin numbers...and um helped me shut the hood on the van (long story). He highlighted the numbers in the book that I had shown the salesman earlier - so now I can go back with the manual and show him that those ARE the numbers. I still have to figure all the numbers Mike - so I'm not sure if you want to get the one you spotted online or look for another, but I'll send you those numbers.

I ran to Sam's to buy milk. Came home, ate, and will now go watch Tarzan 2.

I went to take a photo and the camera is doing the Flashing F thing again. No rhyme or reason....to why it does this and to why it works when it does.